International Sneak peek

Syrian Kurds seize most of ISIS-controlled Tel Abyad – reports

The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Monday it had seized most of the militants’ stronghold town of Tel Abyad. They said earlier that they had captured the major road used to bring reinforcements from Islamic State’s defacto capital of Raqqa, Reuters reported. The militia had surrounded the strategic town near the Turkish border, pushing ahead with an offensive backed by US-led airstrikes, according to YPG spokesman Redur Xelil. The loss of Tel Abyad would leave the jihadists with only the Jarablus border crossing with Turkey in their hands.

US never planned to train Ukrainian ultra-right Azov battalion

The US never had plans to train members of the Ukrainian volunteer “Azov,” battalion which has been accused of neo-nazism, State Department representative Jeff Rathke told the media. He said Washington has been working with Kiev to find the best candidates to train. Last week, the US congress approved the military budget for 2016,adding a specific amendment banning any spending on aid to “Azov.” Russia welcomed the move, but remained sceptical, foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said. He went on to point out that “other units of Ukraine’s National Guard are no better than ‘Azov’,” calling the nationalist combatants “a gathering of blatant neo-Nazis parading Hitler’s SS forces insignia.”

Lavrov and Kerry discuss Ukraine over the phone

US Secretary of State John Kerry has been talking with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the phone, with both discussing the need to fully implement the Minsk agreements in regards to the crisis in Ukraine. The accords state that Kiev should engage in talks with the rebel leadership in Lugansk and Donetsk. They also stated that it was key to stop targeting civilian areas. The current conflicts in Syria, Libya and Yemen were also discussed by the two diplomats, as was the need to find a solution to the Iran nuclear progam.

Over 400 people from Chechnya joined ISIS in Syria since 2011 – ministry

More than 400 Chechen volunteers have joined the ranks of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants since the start of a civil war in Syria, the Russian Interior Ministry said on Monday. “A total of 405 people… have left Chechnya to join the fighting in Syria,”RIA Novosti quoted a ministry spokesman as saying. Among those people, “104 have been killed and 44 came back, while the fate of the rest is unknown.” Authorities have opened 88 criminal cases against Chechen residents who fought in Syria, Sputnik reported.

US-led forces conduct 16 airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq

US and coalition forces launched 16 airstrikes targeting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants in nine Iraqi cities on Sunday, Reuters reported. The strikes destroyed IS vehicles, buildings, tunnel systems and bunkers near Makhmur, Mosul, Ramadi, Sinjar and Tal Afar, the Combined Joint Task Force said on Monday. Three airstrikes in the Syrian cities of Kobani and al Hasaka destroyed militants’ tunnel systems, fighting positions and a communication tower, according to the military.

US Supreme Court rejects Iraq bid to revive ‘oil-for-food’ lawsuit

The US Supreme Court has rejected an effort by Iraq to revive a lawsuit against dozens of firms for allegedly conspiring with Saddam Hussein’s government to subvert the UN oil-for-food program, Reuters said. More than 80 companies, subsidiaries and affiliates were named as defendants in the 2008 lawsuit over the $64.2 billion oil-for-food program. It ran from 1996 to 2003 and was designed to help ordinary Iraqis hurt by international economic sanctions against Hussein’s government. The high court on Monday left intact a September 2014 ruling by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals. It said Iraq’s current government could not recoup damages under a US anti-racketeering law over Hussein’s effort to defraud the UN program.

Swedish prosecutors submit request to question Assange in London

Swedish prosecutors said on Monday they had submitted a request to British and Ecuadorian authorities to question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London over rape allegations. Sweden’s director of public prosecution Marianne Ny is seeking permission to interview Julian Assange in the Ecuador embassy in June and July, AFP reported. The Australian has denied the 2010 allegations and insisted the two sexual encounters were consensual. He has been sheltering in Ecuador’s embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden.

Vatican indicts ex-ambassador to Dominican Republic

The Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic has been indicted on charges he sexually abused young boys in the Caribbean country and used child porn, AP said. Jozef Wesolowski will have his first hearing in a Vatican court on July 11, the Holy See said on Monday. This is the first time such a high-ranking Vatican official will stand trial for sex abuse. Wesolowski was recalled in 2013, defrocked and placed under modified house arrest inside the Vatican City pending a decision by the Vatican criminal court.

Blasts in Chad capital kill at least 20

At least 20 people were killed on Monday in series of blasts at several Chad police establishments in the capital, N’Djamena, Reuters reported, citing security sources. One source said seven people were killed in an initial suicide attack and another 35 people died when explosives planted at the police training school went off. According to the second source, at least 20 people have been killed. The interior minister earlier confirmed at least one suicide attack.

Russian soldier stabbed to death near military base in Armenia

A Russian soldier has been found stabbed to death near the Russian military base where he served in Armenia, AP reported. The soldier was found dead on Monday morning near the Mother of Armenia World War II memorial. The Russian military was reported as saying that he is believed to have been killed by a fellow Russian soldier, who has been taken into custody. Another Russian soldier is awaiting trial for the killing of seven members of an Armenian family in January.

Sudan President Bashir leaves S. Africa

Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has left Johannesburg, according to the state minister for information. Bashir’s plane was expected to land in the Sudanese capital Khartoum at about 6:30pm local time (1530 GMT), Yasser Youssef told Reuters on Monday. Bashir was attending an African Union summit in South Africa. The president has been indicted by the International Criminal Court over war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Yemen to discuss ceasefire if Houthis withdraw

Yemeni Foreign Minister Reyad Yassin Abdulla said on Monday his government could discuss a limited ceasefire with Houthis if the militia withdraw from cities, released more than 6,000 prisoners and complied with a UN resolution, Reuters said. “If they withdraw from Aden and Taiz and other cities and stop killing innocent people, then you can discuss,”said Abdulla, who is part of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government in exile in Riyadh. Peace talks between the parties in the conflict began earlier in the day in Geneva.

38 police, customs officers arrested in Serbia

Serbian police have busted more than three dozen police and customs officers, charging them with corruption and abuse of office, Reuters reported. The biggest arrests in decades were made in cooperation with Hungarian authorities, according to the Interior Ministry. The 29 unidentified police and nine customs officers were all operating in the northern town of Backi Breg and the nearby border crossing with Hungary.

Suicide bomber attacks police, intelligence offices in Chad capital

At least one suicide bomber attacked police and intelligence offices in Chad’s capital N’Djamena on Monday, Reuters quoted the interior minister as saying. Abderahim Bireme Hamid said it was too early to give any details of deaths or injuries.

UN’s Ban Ki-moon calls for Ramadan truce in Yemen

The UN chief on Monday called for an immediate two-week humanitarian pause in Yemen to mark Ramadan, AFP said. Ban Ki-moon made the statement after talks got underway in Geneva to try and resolve the conflict.“I have emphasized the importance of another humanitarian pause for two weeks,” Ban said. The UN chief added that Ramadan which begins in two days should be a period for “harmony, peace and reconciliation.”

Kenyan police ignored al-Shabaab killing

Kenyan police ignored besieged villagers’ pleas for help and allowed Islamist jihadists to go on a killing spree that claimed 87 lives last summer, the Independent reported, citing rights groups. An investigation by Human Rights Watch and the Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC) says the police arrived some 12 hours after the first shots were fired, and killers linked to Somali terror group al-Shabaab were allowed to escape after attacks on eight villages and a passenger bus. An earlier report by the UK-funded Independent Police Oversight Authority accused Kenya’s police force of calling off pursuit of the jihadists to greet a police delegation from Nairobi.

Hong Kong police ‘discover explosives,’ 9 arrested

Hong Kong police said on Monday they had made nine arrests after discovering explosives in the east-coast district of Sai Kung. “The Organized Crime and Triad Bureau has conducted an operation and discovered a certain amount of suspected explosives,”AFP quoted a spokesman as saying. The explosives were reportedly found in an operation at an abandoned television studio, and those arrested were described as activists from pro-democracy “localist” groups. Police suspect the explosives were intended “to be detonated before the Legislative Council debates the government’s political reform package this week,” according to local media.

 3 Tunisia police killed in clashes with jihadists

Three Tunisian police officers and a suspected jihadist were killed on Monday in clashes in the center of the country, AFP reported. “The national guard attempted to ambush at dawn two terrorists on a motorcycle in Sidi Ali Ben Aoun after obtaining information that [they] were about to launch an operation,” according to Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui. Three officers were killed in the ensuing shoot-out and the militants fled. Tunisia has seen a surge in radical Islam since President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in the 2011 revolution.

UN chief meets Yemeni govt delegation in Geneva, peace talks begin

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with a Yemeni government delegation in Geneva on Monday, as peace talks started, Al Arabiya said. The negotiations had been scheduled to start on Sunday, but the UN postponed them till Monday. Representatives of the exiled yet internationally-recognized government of President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi were in Geneva on Saturday. The next day, militia representatives left the capital Sanaa for Geneva. Their delegation includes two Houthis and two members of ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s party.

Support for Japan PM falls to lowest level since 2012

Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet is at its lowest level since he took office in 2012, according to a survey by the Nippon Television Network. Support has fallen to just over 40 percent, and nearly two-thirds of voters are opposed to the defense policy that would end a self-imposed ban on the country’s military fighting overseas. The survey coincided with weekend rallies by thousands protesting legislation that would allow Japan to give military aid to allies under attack, Reuters said.